Rashid Sidek

Rashid Sidek was a former badminton player from Malaysia. Abdul Rashid bin Mohd Sidek was born on 8 of July in Banting, Selangor. He is the second youngest to the six Sidek brothers. Rashid and his brothers gain exposure to badminton by their father, Haji Mohd Sidek. Growing up with a support system that revolve around badminton, Rashid became one of the most uplifting sportsman. Under the guidance of his father, Rashid and his other siblings were trained to be champions. Rashid Sidek attended secondary school at Victoria Institution.

Rashid became the youngest player to win the National Junior Badminton Championship on 1980 at the age of 12. his name become great references after winning the National Championship B-18s by beating Kwang Yoke Meng on 1984. In 1985, he won the Asian Youth Championship beating Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia. After that dazzling victory, he continued the run by winning Sealngor Open and Sarawak Open defeating great players including his brother, Misbun Sidek and Foo Kok Keong.

After the completion of his Sijil Penilaian Menegah (SPM) exam, he joined the 1988/90 squad set to regained the Thomas Cup. Rashid replied to the trust, by showing impressive run but Malyasia lost the finals to China 1-4.

He won the Malaysia Open title three years consecutively during the year 1990, 1991 and 1992. He was known many by "jaguh kampung" - whatever it is never enough to challenge his credibility as a lead world class player. In the Thomas Cup finals in 1992, he beat Ardy Wiranata to give Malyasia the first point in the route won a dramatic 3-2 won over rivals with Indonesia, the first championship in 25 years and the last to his days.

Accomplishments came as a tumbling for three years. However. Rashid bounce back in 1996, putting him in top 3 best players in the world by winning a Asian Cup and German Open, then advancing to the final of the All England before lose to Paul-Erik Hoyer Larsen from Denmark. He won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after beating Indonesia's 1995 World Champion, Heryanto Arbi, 5-15, 15-11, 15-6 and overthrew the first seeded players, Joko Suprianto of Indonesia in route to semi-finals, before bowing out to China, Dong Jiong.

Moreover, in the year 1997, Rashid was named as the number one badminton player by International Badminton Federation (IBF). He began to make rooms for players like Wong Choong Hann, Yong Hock Kin and Roslin Hashim to rised up. Rashid Sidek retired from being a badminton player in 2000.

Upon his retirement, Rashid was appointed as national coach by the Badminton Association of Malaysia and became instrumental to the success of the new generation of badminton players for instance Daren Liew, Lee Chong Wei and Chong Wei Feng. Apart from that he was a coach in Nusa Mahsuri, a badminton club 1992 to 2002. Currently he acts as the advisor for the club which he has set up with his brother, Jalani Sidek.


Rashid Sidek

Write by: Ardini Nazleen (1 Delphi)